Yup..A reseller (tipped off by E*bay that it's a hot item) would have
> to bid as high as possible to beat a group of bidders for a hot item.
> Once a reseller owns the hot item, it's very probable that they can
> resell it for a profit. It's a 'hot' item... Everybody wants it and
> even fools will pay extra for it. :P
> It's a gambling game.
You're really going off the deep end here. Have a chat with your mental health professional about paranoia. Hot items also have the effect of turning out closet-searchers, estate sale and real auction trollers, etc
- bringing a greater supply. While any person with adequately deep pockets can drive up the price of any given item by simply bidding high on all of them, that action spread over a wide range or number of items will soon exhaust funds.
At this point in your carp I've gotten my test equipment needs pretty adequately fulfilled even as you carped along, with a two pronged strategy of bidding the opening bid on some items that sat unbid-upon, and sometimes nobody else bids - done - and occasionally placing a bid in the the last 30 seconds - sometimes winning, sometimes losing to someone with a higher valuation than I placed on the object, and just waiting for the next one. There's virtually always a next one - and if there isn't a next one, then the object has value, independent of any mythical reseller. Some items that were "hot" in a given week were facing a glutted market the next week. But perhaps you're under the delusion that if a scope that's selling every day for $350 has a starting bid of 99 cents, you ought to be able to pick it up for $5. If that's the case, you'll never be happy and should close your *B*y account. The 99 cent opener keeps the lister's fees down, and they fully expect to see it go for $325 to $375.
...as for HP stuff being most watched - HP stuff is also the most common stuff in test equipment, particularly test equipment of a certain age (the affordable yet still useful one). But stick to LeCroy if you like - they made some nice stuff, as I recall, but I doubt it's anywhere near as easy to find parts and manuals for and maintain as most HP stuff.
Philips will also find you some stuff, and Phillips will find you the same stuff from ignorant or sloppy sellers. I'm pretty happy with my non-*B*y Philips analog scope. I went a few days under the impression that I might pick up a severely mis-described one for a song, but other people also noticed it, and the price went out of my range - so it goes. I don't suspect some cabal of scope dealers...and I didn't really need it. If I had needed it, it would have been worth more, to me.
You should perhaps dig out some useless pice of crap and sell it on *B*y to clear up your delusions about seller info (oh, but it would only be for special sellers, not you...spare me).